Oil down despite positive signals on Sino-US trade

Oil prices fell on Monday in Asia despite positive Sino-U.S. trade developments.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said on Friday that Beijing and Washington are close to signing a partial trade deal.

“They made headway on specific issues and the two sides are close to finalizing some sections of the agreement,” USTR said. “Discussions will go on continuously at the deputy level, and the principals will have another call in the near future.”

US President Donald Trump said on the same day that negotiations between the two sides “are doing very well.”

“A lot of good things are happening with China. They want to make a deal very badly,” the president said.

Despite the positive developments, US Crude Oil WTI Futures lost 0.3% by 12:50 AM ET (04:50 GMT), while Brent Oil Futures fell 0.7% to $61.60.

WTI gained 5.4% last week, reaching a 3-week high of $56.72. Brent posted a weekly advance of 4.4%, hitting a three-week high of $62.09.

The gains last week came after the US Energy Information Administration surprised the market on Wednesday by announcing a 1.7-million-barrel drop in domestic crude stockpiles, versus analysts’ expectations for a 2.2-million-barrel build.

Also receiving some attention today were comments by Russia that said it is continuing cooperation with Saudi Arabia and <a href=’https://staging.theenergyyear.com/companies-institutions/opec/’>OPEC to enhance market stability and predictability.